Post by onlyMark on Aug 31, 2017 6:52:46 GMT

Probably long before the man who empties your dustbin started, tongue in cheek, calling himself a refuse collection engineer, people have "adjusted" their job title to make it sound something more important.I understand it is now the trend to alter job titles for more reasons than just to inflate your position. I have caught an article on the BBC whereby the CEO of a steakhouse chain in the US has banned the use of "employee" and has replaced it with "inner guest", as opposed to the customers, who are now outer guests.“I think ‘employee’ is an awful word,” he says. “Who wants to be an employee? It just isn’t something you strive toward.”

Elsewhere, the Human Resources Dept has become the department of culture and organisation, there are now ‘innovation sherpas’ at Microsoft, ‘fashion evangelists’ at Tumblr and ‘digital prophets’ at AOL, you can rid your company of a customer service department and replace it with a group of ‘happiness heroes’.www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170830-why-do-some-companies-ban-certain-words

If I want to search for a job in my field, whatever that may be, then searching using the term guru or sherpa or prophet or genius wouldn't help me much at all. Trendy job titles are stupid and because they are trendy, and as per what a "trend" is, they are not sustainable nor accurate and the sooner we get back to plain speaking and also cutting out jargon, the better.Inner guests, my arse, they are people who work for you, thus employees as they are employed. Guests aren't.

For a short time I worked as a call centre employee for a major and upmarket hotel booking company. During the training I was often bombarded with jargon and given advice on the use of language, like never saying the word no. I often asked for clarification of certain points, much to the irritation of the trainer(s) who had lived with certain terms and understood them implicitly, whilst they were new to me/us. I didn't want to have misunderstandings and after she explained something I'd use basic simple English to say the same thing saying, "Ah, you mean....."She gave us all sorts of coping strategies to avoid the use of 'no', it was verboten to utter it. I asked her, "Just to be clear about this, are their circumstances where we can say no?"She replied, "No."I raised my eyebrows at her, "Shouldn't you say, "there are alternatives.... etc"?" Throwing back at her some of the avoidance strategies she tried to instil into us.

I then asked if we could role play a little, me and her, to illustrate what she meant and for a 'fuller understanding'. She was late twenties, very attractive and obviously spent quite some time looking after herself. I would try and get her outright to say no.My first question was, "Can I take you out for dinner tonight?"After colouring up, hesitating ans spluttering for a second or two, she put her game face on and did well to avoiding saying the dreaded word to my subsequent probing questions.We eventually parted not on the best of terms though.Rant over for now.

(The training was quite boring but it was enlivened one day by a Syrian/Turk lad. Bear in mind this is a German company and we are in Germany being trained by Germans. We were employed to just book and not sell hotel rooms and we were separated into English, German, Spanish and Arabic speakers, though the company working language was English (good for me then).One day we were covering the posh hotels in the Middle East for familiarisation. The trainer was new and being shadowed by an experienced one from the HQ. He expressed the opinion that Germans were held in high regard in the Middle East and wondered why particularly it was so.The lad said, "I know why.""Why?""Because you tried to kill all the Jews."

You could hear a pin drop - apart from me who fell off the chair laughing.)

As usual for me, a bit of a digression at the end, but, the point being, call a spade a spade will you when you are using job titles. It avoids all confusion and makes it easier for all of us.

Post by kerouac2 on Aug 31, 2017 13:37:08 GMT

I have noticed that in quite a few companies about half of the employees have the title "assistant manager."

And I have found it rather clever that all of the employees at the Disney parks are called "cast members." It sort of brings back the truth of the concept that employees are not supposed to be themselves but are "performing." I suppose that that's why so many companies have job performance evaluations.

Post by onlyMark on Aug 31, 2017 15:06:10 GMT

Post by questa on Aug 31, 2017 15:16:10 GMT

When it first became popular our HR people started slinging "benchmarks" around. Finally when those of us who "worked at the coal-face" were at a regional meeting I mentioned that we were having difficulties understanding the latest corporate Americanisms. A murmur of agreement backed me up so I asked, "what is benchmarking, or a benchmark?" HR lady flustered a bit then said it was a "standard". "So why not use the perfectly good word and lose the jargon?" I said. After that our memos etc were written in normal speech. No one ever mentioned "benchmarking" again because no one ever really knew what it meant.

Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 31, 2017 17:34:15 GMT

My old job...originally called 'Laboratory technicians', staff were taken on straight from school at 16. Training on the job with day release to the local Polytechnic. 2 years training through all the the different departments in Pathology, a BTech academic qualification and an oral examination.

Then we became M.L.S.O.s 'Medical Laboratory Scientific Officers...entry with A levels at 18+, block release at the local Polytechnic (3 terms of 4 weeks per year) and filling out a workbook to show that you have completed the required training, just training in ONE department. HND academic qualification plus an oral examination (covering everything that you should know, two examiners...nightmare) If you passed then if you were lucky you were offered a position in a laboratory and could apply to continue studying part time to gain a Specialist Fellowship qualification (3 years day release...I went to Wstminster University to do mine) supposed to be higher degree level...with the Fellowship you could apply for Senior positions in the laboratory.

Another name change Biomendical Scientist....the minimum qualification to apply for a trainee post is now a relevant BSc. Trainees have to complete a demanding training portfolio whilst working in the laboratory (always supervised)and these are sent away to be marked. If the portfolio is passed the trainee also has to undergo the dreaded oral examination.. nowadays they're not even guaranteed a post once qualified! The Fellowship examination has been replaced by an MSc.

My training was all funded by my department at the hospital but nowadays students often can't get funding for an MSc (and of course they have already completed and paid for their BSc when they apply for a trainee post)...those with an MSc can apply to be taken onas Clinical Scientists Clinical Scientists can study for a PhD IF they can get funding....then they're Doctors (in their field in pathology)

All change...I felt a great deal of loyalty to the NHS because they funded my training, these days young newly qualified staff go to the areas where they can get funding for an MSc and beyond...some just follow the money working as Agency locums.

Post by mich64 on Aug 31, 2017 19:24:48 GMT

My career started with the Title of Part-time Phone Clerk (I fortunately never worked a part-time shift) and after three months was re-classified as a Phone/Dispatch Clerk. Then I took on any new clerical duties as we began to quickly automate and transform the operations division of the Company. It got to the point where they could no longer define what my position should be named and I was constantly asked before my annual review to submit a written list of job duties I was performing. How I was being defined was not that important to me as long as I was being fairly compensated for my efforts (which I was) but once we became unionized they had to title us which was difficult as we performed duties in many of the new title descriptions compared to other employees in different depots across the country. I was eventually titled an Office Clerk, which I was not very fond of, then was asked to leave the union to become the Assistant to the Depot Manager and my final title was Depot/Terminal Manager.

Post by kerouac2 on Aug 31, 2017 19:58:37 GMT

My first job title at my main company was "station accountant B" and my final job title was "senior financial analyst" but basically I did pretty much the same job for 34 years (taking into consideration technological advances over time). The main advantage over the years was that I could tell just about anybody to fuck off if they irritated me during the last 10 years or so, and that included top management. I kind of liked that.

Post by mossie on Aug 31, 2017 20:51:37 GMT

I had a job where I ran an asphalt plant and 4 gangs on the road laying the rubbish, my title was 'Area Agent'. The area I roamed over comprised half of Hertfordshire, and parts of Bucks, Beds, and NW London. The country was going through one of its periodic bad patches and wage rises were verboten. My company, to give me a rise, promoted me to 'Production and Distribution Manager', although the job and my responsibilities didn't change.

Post by onlyMark on Sept 1, 2017 5:03:37 GMT

Post by lagatta on Sept 2, 2017 18:46:05 GMT

Yes, at least they all sound like actual jobs.

There have been labour disputes about this nonsense. I doubt there were any actual strikes, as "associates" didn't want to lose any of their low pay to have the right to be called employees, shop assistants, clerks or whatever, but they were mightily pissed off about the "associate" stuff as it sounds as if they were actually partners in the enterprise and not workers at café chains or retail such as IKEA.

The Disney stuff gave rise to a lot of abuse. I have a friend, young in the days of Eurodisney, who was working in a pub with a Western theme, and ridiculously cold air conditioning. He was admonished for wearing a bandana around his throat, and thought that was beyond silly as it was certainly something barmen in Western North America would have done when it was chilly.

Post by kerouac2 on Sept 2, 2017 18:59:53 GMT

I don't quite see the relation between costuming rules and job titles, but the biggest clothing scandal in France occurred with the Paul baked goods chain (most of the addresses cannot be called bakeries because they don't bake) about 10 years ago. The female uniforms were strangely skimpy and reprimands were given when employees preferred to wear a t-shirt under them (not because they felt immodest but because they were cold). Needless to say, Paul had to back down.

Post by bixaorellana on Sept 8, 2017 15:34:48 GMT

I have caught an article on the BBC whereby the CEO of a steakhouse chain in the US has banned the use of "employee" and has replaced it with "inner guest", as opposed to the customers, who are now outer guests.“I think ‘employee’ is an awful word,” he says. “Who wants to be an employee? It just isn’t something you strive toward.”

What overweening, nauseating arrogance! I hope the body of the "inner guests" rise up and demand his termination with no fat exit package.